The automatic distribution of multimedia content is becoming widely available. By way of example, publicly available terminals or kiosks are often provided in such locations as shopping malls and convenience stores to enable people to access audio or video material without the need for a sales representative. The person wishing to obtain such media can select from available media and receive the selected media in various forms, for example by means of load speakers or headphones or by means of a video screen or by downloading the media in electronic form. The person obtaining the media might be doing so simply for one time information or entertainment value. Alternatively, the person might desire to retain a magnetic recording of the media, permitting the person to have repeated access to the media.
In some applications, the media might be made available to the person desiring it at no charge. For example, a store selling musical compact disks might have kiosks at which selections from available compact disks can be sampled. Such a store might wish to limit the number of selections that any one customer can sample so as to prevent people from simply listening to numerous samples with no interest in purchasing any. A method must be provided to limit the number of samples which the customer can access. Alternatively, such a store might have kiosks at which for an appropriate charge the complete contents of a compact disk can be downloaded for duplication. In such event, a method must be provided to assure that the appropriate charge is paid.
In other situations, multimedia content might be made available to persons authorized to receive such content, but must be inaccessible by others. For example, kiosks might be provided in hotels or in airport terminals at which persons who are traveling can obtain access to e-mail that is intended for them, even though they do not have their own computer or other terminal device with them. Even if a person has a notebook computer or other terminal device accessible, the person may not have e-mail access from that device. In such cases, a secure manner must be provided to assure that e-mail can be accessed only by the correct recipient, and is not accessible by others. Similarly, multimedia content intended only for persons above a particular age might be accessible, but persons not authorized for receipt of such multimedia must not be able to access it. For example, a kiosk might be equipped to permit users to play video games, but some of the games might have content that makes it desirable to restrict access to those games to persons of at least some minimum age, such as 18, while permitting access to others of the games by all persons regardless of age.
A computer network might be accessed by a user who types in an identification and a password. After accessing the network, the person then must type in identifiers of files that he or she desires to access. All of this requires a user terminal equipped with appropriate input devices, such as a keyboard and/or a mouse, and requires manual typing or other selection by the user. An undesirable amount of time is required for such a procedure, particularly if the user makes an error in the typing or other selection. In addition, significant bandwidth is required for the communication link between the user and the desired file.
In the area of distribution of secured content, such as, movies, music, games, information and the like there has been a lot of development lately. There are two important issues, namely how distribution is handled, and how payments are handled. PCT Application WO 00/30117, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method of commercially distributing musical recordings comprising downloading a digital recording of music from a kiosk to a self-contained personal music terminal which stores the recording in an electronic memory and can play the music recording.
There is a need for short-range communication, like Bluetooth, in downloading data from access points. The present invention provides a way to take advantage of the convergence of the Internet and the Mobile Telecommunication or Mobile Computing fields on terminals that do not have any browsing capability. The Bluetooth standard is described in Bluetooth specification v.1.0B. One implementation of Bluetooth is described, for example, in PCT publication WO/0018025, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, in which a Bluetooth link between a Bluetooth enabled mobile terminal and a Bluetooth enabled data terminal, such as a PC, is disclosed.
Although the Internet is making a breakthrough in the mobile communication world thanks to the introduction of browsers on mobile terminals, it is expected that some alternative models for accessing the content/information of the Internet will be needed. Whereas the browser model is heavily based on user interaction, other models where the user can be more passive make particular sense in mobile environments because of potential limitations in the capabilities of some terminals, because of the lack of time for browsing, and further because of the importance of accessing information quickly rather than freely surfing among the various sources of information available. In this kind of context, a terminal having a passive mechanism would help the user in content downloading, and preferably keep aspects of a browser based content access model to keep flexibility in what content can be accessed.
The following summarizes some of the prior art systems for providing multimedia content to users:
Published PCT Application No. PCT/US99/20789 (International Publication No. WO 00/30117), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, shows a system for downloading music from a publically available terminal or kiosk to a self-contained personal music device for subsequent playback, with the kiosk being activated in response to insertion of a credit card or cash.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,719, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for providing access at a retail site to a remote database to create a compact disk or a magnetic tape of a desired media, such as an audio or a video selection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,916, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference, shows a similar system, with the user or customer being issued an integrated circuit (“IC”) card which the customer uses to activate a kiosk from which the media is accessible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,314, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference, concerns a system in which a customer is issued an IC card that includes a decryption key, allowing the customer to download a video selection that is associated with the particular decryption key.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,130, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference, discloses a kiosk which can be activated by a credit card to allow copying of media.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,257, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference, shows a system for making media available to customers in which the system captures information about each customers' selections and then uses that information to build a customer profile for each customer. When a previous customer returns, the system might suggest media which the customer's previous selections, as incorporated in the customer profile, indicate the customer might like.